Our house has unwanted guests.

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

We've got a large number of bugs, at least a colony of them, that have been running around for at least two months. They're climbing over the walls, landing in the most random places (I had one on my laptop screen in my bedroom last night). To add to the weirdness, a large number of them have been discovered dead in the corners of one of the windows in the kitchen on a regular basis. Dad sprayed the outside of the window yesterday, but it didn't seem to work.

The problem is we can't kill them because we don't have a clue what they are. All we know is that they're harmless, red, and incredibly annoying.

I managed to capture one of them wandering on top of the stove top tonight, and took some pictures of it on the tape, as well as climbing over the edge of my finger. I do not know if they are of sufficient quality to ID them, but I'm hoping someone in here will know. Parents are getting irritated...fast....not that I can blame him.

Here are the pictures. If anyone recognizes them, let me know.

Pictures by OGodHowGreatThouArt - Photobucket

 

[Berean]

Well, we are all able to identify your finger should we ever see it. And...we know that your camera doesn't focus so well. Do any of your neighbors have similar bugs or is there something special about your house that's attracting them? Do they bite or smell or fly?

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

No bite, no smell. Never seen them fly. And they're obviously harmless (since its crawling all over my finger.

Sorry about the camera; that's what you get with embedded webcams

P.S.: neighbors aren't talkers (at least one side isn't...we rarely see the other), and tend to be gossipers at times, so we try not to associate with them too much as a family.

 

[uberkermit]

Do they look like anything you see here?

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

Don't appear to be, but I have a good description now (found another floating around).

Dark brown, almost black color. Roughly two centimeters long. four legs, two small antennas (about the same length as the legs), two wings, head about the size of the head of a pen, the body about 3x as long, but roughly the same width as the head.

 

[Edward]

Roughly two centimeters long

The one in the picture isn't anywhere close to being 3/4 of an inch. And if it's an insect, it's going to have more than 4 legs. By definition, it will have 6.

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

Make that millimeters Edward. I got the two backwards somehow.

 

[Berean]

And if it's an insect, it's going to have more than 4 legs. By definition, it will have 6.

Georgia "bugs"? georgia bugs - Google Search

 

[Edward]

Well, if it had been cm, I'd suggest Cicadas. This is the year that they are supposed to crawl out of the ground. Cicada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Pilgrim]

I've worked in that industry in the past but I can't make out what they are in the pics. I'd think most camera phones would take clearer pics than this, much less other types.

Are you sure it has 4 legs? Insects have 6 legs.

 

[Edward]

I'd think most camera phones would take clearer pics than this,

The curtains and ceiling look perfectly clear to me in some of the pictures. The problem is the autofocus, not the resolution.

In any event, nothing that a little DDT wouldn't cure.

 

[LawrenceU]

If you have a better picture Tim or I might be able to ID it. They look a bit like bedbugs, but they are not normally out in the open. Has anyone in the house awoken with 'mystery' bug bites?

---------- Post added at 10:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 PM ----------

You might want to call an exterminator.

 

[JennyG]

If they aren't arriving by air, have you any idea where they do enter? Such as a particular door or window? If so, you can spray the threshold liberally with some kind of insecticide. We were getting ants in a big way, and though they don't exactly do harm, you really don't want to be forever fishing them out of the sugar bowl. I sprayed the sill of the likeliest window with ant-killer (it's called Nippon). It seems to have worked

 

[Mindaboo]

I'm thinking they are boxelder bugs. We get those a lot here. There isn't a lot you can do about them. They don't hurt anything, but are annoying.
http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxelder_bug

 

[Pilgrim]

I agree with Lawrence. Without a clearer pic we can do nothing more than guess. There should be no charge for an inspection and a price quote.

There are also a multitude of bug identification websites. As a last resort, if for whatever reason they don't want to get an inspection, it may be possible in your state to send strange bugs to the state agricultural cooperative extension service (or whatever it is called in your state) for identification. Even professionals do this occasionally to ensure proper identification with insects that are not commonly encountered.

 

[Scottish Lass]

Bayer makes a pretty good indoor/outdoor spray for baseboards and foundations. Works for about nine months. Georgia Southern is our entomology mecca in the state---they might have a website of local critters.

 

[Augusta]

They are probably carpet beatles. Dermestidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

We still don't know what they are, but I was looking out the window of the door in the kitchen today, and noticed that one of the bugs was on the outside. That led me to believe there wasn't a colony embedded in the house somewhere, and started checking for entrance points from the outside.

Found one in the doorway from an unsealed section, but I just found a bigger entrance area in the window. The siding of the window (the wood part) does not meet with the upper part of the wood, leaving a large gap. Large numbers of the bugs have been found dead directly below that for two weeks, and my guess is that the bugs are literally walking off the edge and breaking their legs in the fall.

We'll know in 2-4 weeks after dad seals the hole off whether it was their main means of getting in the house. It may take that long to kill of the population that's already in here.

 

[Pilgrim]

Carpet beetles appear to be as good a guess as any based on the pictures.

As a general rule, something like 85% of pest problems come in from the outside. That's the reason why most pest control operators now focus on outside applications rather than coming inside and spraying the baseboards, etc. the way they used to do.

Closing off gaps and spraying an insecticide around the foundation of the home and around the outside of the doors and windows will eliminate most of the problems. I used something my wife picked up from Lowe's or Home Depot recently. It's not as strong as what the pros use but it seems to have really cut down on some problems we were having. Where we live, if that lasts for 2 months we'll be doing good.

The exception to pests entering the home from the outside (in the normal sense) would be German roaches (the small ones) silverfish, bed bugs, fleas and a few other pests that will build colonies in the home. Spiders in the home are a sign that you have some other kind of pest that they are after.

 

[Edward]

but I just found a bigger entrance area in the window. The siding of the window (the wood part) does not meet with the upper part of the wood, leaving a large gap.

You might want to spray some Raid in there before you seal it up.

 

[Scottish Lass]

Raid smells nasty, in my opinion. The Bayer spray I recommended above has very little smell.